Indian spinner R Ashwin completes 700 FC wickets: Key stats
Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin completed 700 First-Class wickets on Day 1 of the second Test against Australia in Delhi. The 36-year-old got Marnus Labuschagne (18) leg before to unlock this feat. Ashwin bagged eight wickets in the Nagpur Test, including a match-winning fifer in the second innings (5/37). He is the fastest Indian to 450 Test scalps. We look at his FC stats.
A look at his FC numbers
Playing for Tamil Nadu, Ashwin made his FC debut against Haryana in December 2006. He has since pocketed 700 wickets in 146 matches. He has claimed 50 fifers and 32 four-wicket hauls in an inning. His best figures in the format read 7/59. To date, Ashwin has clipped 459 wickets for India in 90 Tests. He owns 31 fifers in this regard.
Fastest Indian to 450 Test wickets
Ashwin is just the second Indian bowler after Anil Kumble to complete 450 wickets in Test cricket. He attained the feat during the Nagpur Test. Overall, he is the ninth bowler in Test history to have entered this club. Ashwin (89 Tests) became the fastest Indian to have taken 450 Test wickets. He broke Kumble's record, who reached this landmark in 93 Tests.
Ashwin in an elite company
Ashwin (31) is one of two Indians besides Kumble (35) to register 30 five-wicket hauls in Test cricket. Overall, the Indian off-spinner is among the seven players to have achieved this feat. Ashwin has the second-most 10-wicket hauls (7) in a match by an Indian.
Ashwin owns 25 Test fifers at home
Ashwin and Kumble are the only players with over 20 Test fifers in India (25). Harbhajan Singh follows the duo with 18 such five-wicket hauls. According to ESPNcricinfo, only two players have registered more Test five-wicket hauls at home than Ashwin and Kumble. Only former Sri Lanka spinners Muttiah Muralitharan (45) and Rangana Herath (26) are ahead of the Indian duo in this regard.
How has the second Test panned out?
Put to bowl, India brought down Australia to 94/3 at lunch on Day 1. The likes of David Warner (15), Labuschagne (18), and Steve Smith (0) fell cheaply. Travis Head, who replaced Matt Renshaw, departed soon. Meanwhile, Usman Khawaja has shone with a valiant fifty. For India, Ashwin and Mohammed Shami have bagged two wickets apiece.
